Laptop recommendations.........

[matt167]

Re: Laptop recommendations.........

Win XP can run good with 512mb of Ram. Min was 128mb if memory serves me..

 

[matt167]

Re: Laptop recommendations.........

Now this just has to be a fluke but I spent this morning looking into a desk top. Our Dell is dated and is terrible (might have been the guy we paid to clean up the system!). I bought my wife an ipad and she loves it. I am not an apple fan but I got an iphone a year ago as the kids all love 'Facetime". When my son in law got a new computer and my old laptop died, he gave me his MacBook Pro. Actually I use my phone like a laptop for 90% of my computer stuff outside work. So this morning after finding a couple of desk top units, the thought came to look at Mac (EXPENSIVE BUT QUALITY) and saw the Mac Mini. You guessed it - new Mac Mini under the tree coming up Christmas. Good luck whatever you decide.

Don't get me wrong, Mac OSX is a great OS, but their is nothing spectacular about their hardware. Since 2005 they have been Intel based and basically PC's.. This is why Hackintosh is possible and popular nowdays.

 

[matt167]

Re: Laptop recommendations.........

Jeez, I always assumed mine was a 17 - a 17 must be huge then. My .02 - Inspirons suck, poorly built consumer grade laptops.

Agreed.. Latitude all the way. There also easy to open up for work

 

[NYBo]

Re: Laptop recommendations.........

Your computing needs are extremely modest so even the cheapest and slowest laptop today will be just fine in terms of performance compared to your current setup, even with the additional overhead required by Windows 8 over XP. Choose your screen size and test out the keyboards, and choose the cheapest on those bases.

 

[WIMUSKY]

Re: Laptop recommendations.........

Ok, so I've been rethinking what I need given my current requirements, or lack there of.........'

Here's what I'm looking at:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/pavilion-17-3-laptop-4gb-memory-750gb-hard-drive/2287004.p?id=1219071221794&skuId=2287004&st=categoryid$abcat0502000&cp=1&lp=3#tab=overview

HP
AMD Quad Core A-8 processor
750GB HD
4Gb RAM - expandable to 8Gb which I would do right away
Windows 8

Opinions? Nice price..................

One of my concerns, the processor speed only 2.1Ghz(my current one being 3.0). The last thing I want is a slow computer. They do say this:

a 3.0GHz AMD processor may not be the same speed as a 3.0GHz Intel processor

Ok, will an AMD be slower or faster???????????????.

If you copy and paste the address it will go to the site. For the life of me Best Buy wont link up... My computer doesn't like it......Lol Maybe a Mod can make it a link for me........

 

[GA_Boater]

Re: Laptop recommendations.........

Ok, so I've been rethinking what I need given my current requirements, or lack there of.........'

Here's what I'm looking at:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/pavilion-17-3-laptop-4gb-memory-750gb-hard-drive/2287004.p?id=1219071221794&skuId=2287004&st=categoryid$abcat0502000&cp=1&lp=3#tab=overview

HP
AMD Quad Core A-8 processor
750GB HD
4Gb RAM - expandable to 8Gb which I would do right away
Windows 8

Opinions? Nice price..................

One of my concerns, the processor speed only 2.1Ghz(my current one being 3.0). The last thing I want is a slow computer. They do say this:

a 3.0GHz AMD processor may not be the same speed as a 3.0GHz Intel processor

Ok, will an AMD be slower or faster???????????????.

If you copy and paste the address it will go to the site. For the life of me Best Buy wont link up... My computer doesn't like it......Lol Maybe a Mod can make it a link for me........

HP Pavilion 17.3" Laptop 4GB Memory 750GB Hard Drive 17-e016dx - Best Buy

Are you copy/pasting using the globe with the infinity symbol?

 

[WIMUSKY]

Re: Laptop recommendations.........

Globe??? I'm right clicking the address and pasting like I do everything else. I can link their main page just fine.
Best Buy: Making Technology Work for You

Then I try a LT...............
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/pavilion-17-3-laptop-4gb-memory-750gb-hard-drive/2287004.p?id=1219071221794&skuId=2287004&st=categoryid$abcat0502000&cp=1&lp=3#tab=overview

 

[GA_Boater]

Re: Laptop recommendations.........

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/pavilion-17-3-laptop-4gb-memory-750gb-hard-drive/2287004.p?id=1219071221794&skuId=2287004&st=categoryid$abcat0502000&cp=1&lp=3#tab=overview

Best Buy: Making Technology Work for You

I just tried straight copy/paste and got the same thing. When I Go Advanced the working link to BB has the url wrap and the non-working one doesn't. :noidea:

I always use the Link icon out of habit. Maybe something in our settings?

I didn't answer your question in the first post. The speed of the processor won't make any difference in day to day use for primarily surfing and emailing. It could have more impact on watching movies and number crunching operations like video editing, etc. Your internet connection speed will impact you more in surfing and emailing.

 

[WIMUSKY]

Re: Laptop recommendations.........

I see what you're doing.... Thanks! Something is still screwy tho......

HP Pavilion 17.3" Laptop 4GB Memory 750GB Hard Drive 17-e016dx - Best Buy

 

[matt167]

Re: Laptop recommendations.........

That computer is decent, but I generally do not care for HP's as they don't lend well to repair.. One thing to remember is any modern CPU is 64 bit and not 32 bit so they can make use of more memory and CPU bandwidth so 2.1ghz quad core will still be faster than an old P4 3.0 GHZa

AMD gives you a lot of bang for a short dollar.

 

[WIMUSKY]

Re: Laptop recommendations.........

Well, I ended up buying the HP Pavillion. I also bought an HP wireless printer. Since they bundled it, I was able to save $s on the printer. So far I'm very happy with this LT. Darn fast, although I haven't transferred anything over from the desktop. Win8 isn't near as bad as I was expecting. In fact, I really like it. The sales kid gave me a run thru on how to use it. I suppose I retained about 1/2 the info....Lol But just playing around I'm able to navigate fairly well.

My daughter has some sort of Droid Smartphone with a bunch of aps and jumped on this LT and went to town. I still have a flip....Lol

So if I can go from XP and a phone with no aps and feel comfortable with Win8, the people that aren't in the dark ages like me shouldn't have a problem.....

ps. This thing generates basically nothing for heat. Barely gets a little warm.....

Thanks again for everyone's help.......

 

[nwcove]

Re: Laptop recommendations.........

whats this about xp not being supported come spring??!!!! just bought my work laptop from my employer....and its running xp!!!

 

[GA_Boater]

Re: Laptop recommendations.........

Very true. MS is dropping XP support in April, 2014. Hope you didn't pay much. About 100 bucks to upgrade to Windows 7.

Support ends in 2014 for Windows XP and Office 2003!

 

[WIMUSKY]

Re: Laptop recommendations.........

Most people around here that I've talked to had no idea about XP's support going away........

 

[GA_Boater]

Re: Laptop recommendations.........

I think that's because XP is a solid OS and has been around longer than any other Windows OS and is the one of the biggest selling products MS ever had.

 

[nwcove]

Re: Laptop recommendations.........

Very true. MS is dropping XP support in April, 2014. Hope you didn't pay much. About 100 bucks to upgrade to Windows 7.

Support ends in 2014 for Windows XP and Office 2003!

only paid $28.75 for it ( $25 plus tax) but i hope its not $$ wasted!! ( wish the IT guy would have mentioned that lil tidbit!)

 

[GA_Boater]

Re: Laptop recommendations.........

Might be worth upgrading to W7. For upgrading to W7, first see if the hardware will support W7, how to here Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor - Download - Microsoft Windows You can find a W7 upgrade product for about $100.

I haven't found a similar tool for XP to W8.

 

[matt167]

Re: Laptop recommendations.........

only paid $28.75 for it ( $25 plus tax) but i hope its not $$ wasted!! ( wish the IT guy would have mentioned that lil tidbit!)

If it's a Dell, the bios can be reprogrammed to add the activation string needed for a Win 7 offline activation with a very simple program and a bios flash, and you could use a Dell Win 7 install disc ( $20ish off Ebay ) and it will install and activate Win 7.. Some models, you can actually just upgrade to the latest bios and they have the activation string right in them.. I have a Latitude D520 running Win 7 that way.. Other brands you can also do and use the Dell activation string on the bios and it will activate with an easy to find Dell disc. Just need to make sure the bios is a Phoenix bios as most lappy's are, and not a Sony or a Toshiba which have odd bios that don't mod easy and could corrupt

 

[matt167]

Re: Laptop recommendations.........

XP was released in 2001 and Windows 7 has been a huge success, so it's time.. In defense to Win XP, it was essentially the same operating system since Win NT 3.51 which was released 1 month before Win 95 ( May 1995/Aug 1995 ). It's last 'perfection' before XP was released was Win 2000 ( NT 5.0 ). Couple Beta's ran right after ( NepTune/ Odyssey which became Windows Wistler, the real Beta version of XP ) and XP was released about a year after Win 2k..

XP benefited from Vista because support was extended by many years.. Win 2k was last supported in 2010, and XP is going to run till 04/14. By all respects with being within a 1yr period for the releases, Win 2k should only have been supported till 2011 but it's all Vista's fault and the fact that XP was a consumer grade OS where as 2k was not... Had Vista not sucked on release, XP would probably have had expired by now

 

[MTboatguy]

Re: Laptop recommendations.........

If Vista had not been such a dog, I guarantee you that XP support would have went away about 2 and a half years ago, I had got several updates from Microsoft and was quite surprised when I got a letter saying they were extending support for XP until 2014.